The Software Behind the Screens

Success story

Hyatt Regency — Chicago Effective Communication to Guests

Elegant, Pleasing addition to Hotel Decor

Story at a Glance

Customer Name Hyatt Regency

Industry Sector

Hospitality

Location Chicago, Illinois (USA)

Application

Guest Communications Facility Navigation, Brand Advertising and In-room Television System

Omnivex Solution

Omnivex Display Content Assembly, Scheduling

and Delivery

Omnivex Control Networked RS232 Device Control

and Monitoring

Omnivex DataPipe Data and Instant Message

Distribution

Omnivex RFID Link RFID Interface

Omnivex SQLLink

ODBC Database Queries

Customer Overview The Hyatt Regency® is one of the most prestigious brands in the hotel industry, operating in major cities around the world, with meeting facilities and special services designed with the business traveller in mind. Each Hyatt Regency® hotel is designed and decorated to capture the essence of the local culture. The Hyatt Regency® Chicago is in the heart of downtown Chicago, with 2,019 guestrooms, 63 meeting rooms and 228,000 square fee of space for banquets and various functions. The Hyatt Regency Chicago takes pride in offering their guests the best of everything among luxury hotels — great restaurants, well-appointed rooms and unparalleled service.

Project Scope

The Hyatt Regency® Chicago is a large complex including two separate towers on different sides of Michigan Avenue that are connected by a series of hallways and underground tunnels. The hotel management wanted to help guests and visitors navigate the facility, without distracting from the hotel’s décor and design. They also wanted a more effective method of distributing information, such as schedules and times of hotel and local cultural events, maps of the facility, and captivating graphics to promote the Hyatt brand and hotel amenities. They expressed a desire to display real time information about weather, news, and flight information for Chicago’s two major airports. In addition to fifty fixed mounted LCD screens, the Hyatt Regency® Chicago required mobile screens that could be moved to different locations throughout the hotel depending on the events that were taking place. They also wanted a system that could recognize who was viewing a particular screen and content on that screen to suit the profile of the viewer. Lastly, the management team felt that it would be beneficial to incorporate a live television feed on some public displays, as well as provide guests with the ability to access information on the public displays directly from the television screen in their room.

The Software Behind the Screens

Success story

Hyatt Regency — Chicago

Omnivex Solution continued Omnivex Control software allows the management system company to communicate directly with all of the digital signage hardware installed in the hotel from their one central location. The software continuously monitors the status of every screen as well as the PC connected to it, without a hotel staff member having to physically check on the hardware. The use of Omnivex Control ensures that the screens and PCs are operating as intended and automates an appropriate notification should a problem occur.

Results Omnivex worked closely with the Hyatt Regency® Chicago to understand the requirements and concerns and implement a digital signage system that supported their core values and satisfied the needs of their guests. By interfacing directly to the Envision database, the system provided relevance to viewer and eliminated ongoing operating costs. Omnivex software allowed the Hyatt Regency® Chicago to help their clients find their way around the hotel and to conference and meeting areas with greater ease, while enhancing the environment to look more modern and technologically advanced. The installation of this digital signage network and the unique capabilities of Omnivex software enabled the Hyatt Regency® Chicago to maintain its position as Chicago’s leading luxury hotel, assuring its customers the best stay among hotels in Chicago.

Omnivex Solution

The Hyatt Regency® Chicago chose Omnivex software to provide a complete solution for all of their digital signage needs. Omnivex software was able to handle all of the challenges of the hotel’s digital signage network with one integrated system, because it has such a wide range of capabilities. All of the content for the screens is managed by Omnivex Display software. The central content management component resides off site at the corporate location of a company that specialises in management systems for hotels. From there they can design content and deliver it to the Hyatt Regency® network. Omnivex software has the ability to acquire, sort and format real time data through an intuitive interface that does not require complex programming by the operator. Real time news and weather data is delivered to the screens via Omnivex NewsStand and Omnivex DataPipe. Live television is streamed to certain screens and incorporated into the display content automatically. The software also interfaces with the Hyatt’s centralized Envision property management server. The Envision database contains information from around the world about all Hyatt room, meeting and banquet bookings and schedules. Omnivex DataPipe was able to access all of the information located in the database and display relevant information on particular screens at a specified date and time, automatically with no manual intervention by Hyatt Regency® staff. The ten mobiles screens can be placed in different locations depending on what activities are taking place at the hotel. Since the Omnivex software can simultaneously support multiple communication protocols, adding a wireless network for the mobile screens was seamless. The screens are able to access all information from the Omnivex DataPipe network and display schedules information for the specified location. Omnivex Software allows guests to access all of the information on the public displays directly via their standard in-room television screens. This feature is especially useful for the business traveller to access information about flight status, meeting times and schedules and local weather. In order to address the Hyatt’s requirements to have custom content displayed to certain visitors it was proposed that radio frequency identification tags (RFID) be used. Then an RFID tag is in range of a screen, the Omnivex software recognizes the tag and automatically changes the content on the local screen from the regularly scheduled information to unique content that has been created for that particular viewer

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